| My interest in this film sparked
around the same time I began to notice Godzilla.
The book that forged my obsession with the big
guy also covered three non-Godzilla monster movies:
Rodan, Mothra
(1961), and Varan
(1958). Then, one Christmas, I received two out
of the three: Rodan and Mothra
(1961) (along with Terror
of Mechagodzilla [1975]). Rodan
became my first non-Godzilla kaiju movie, and
to this day, it still fails to disappoint.
Unfortunately for the mining community
in Kitamatsu, continued digging increases to a
degree that results in massive flooding. The body
of a miner, whose wounds appear to support the
fact that he was slaughtered, floats by. A man
by the name of Goro is blamed for this atrocity,
due to a recent brawl in which he had engaged
with the late miner. Goro promptly disappears.
However, Shigeru and his fiancée Kiyo,
Goro’s sister, claim his innocence. The
bodies of policemen who enter the mine to investigate
are also recovered with the same brand of brutal
injuries. However, it is determined that these
men died from fright, not from their wounds.
That night, a giant insect appears
and attacks Kiyo and Shigeru in their home. The
police pursue and open fire on the creature, which
kills two policemen who venture too close. The
monstrosity retreats into the mine. Shigeru and
the police enter caves, bent on destroying the
Meganulon. Upon finally discovering Goro’s
body, the insect reappears. Machine guns have
no effect on the creature, but in a clever bid,
Shigeru rams the mine cars into the creature,
effectively killing it. When Shigeru goes to retrieve
the body, another Meganulon appears. Shortly following
their opening fire, an earthquake strikes and
the mine collapses. Shigeru disappears in the
midst of the collapse, and a rockslide prevents
his rescue. The following expedition leads to
the discovery of Shigeru in the epicenter of the
earthquakes. Stricken with amnesia, he is unable
to recognize even his fiancée Kiyo.
Soon a UFO is spotted by the JSDF,
flying at supersonic speeds and making impossible
maneuvers. Reports of UFOs flying at supersonic
speeds are reported all over the Pacific region,
leading people to think that there are, in fact,
two of these phenomena.
Meanwhile in Kitamatsu, Kiyo innocently
shows Shigeru the eggs that her pet bird has laid.
One begins to hatch, and suddenly, a memory returns
to him... After the rockslide, Shigeru had found
him in a cave full of Meganulon. Also lying in
the cave was an enormous egg, which hatched and
revealed a giant monster. The newborn snacked
on the insects, let out a bellow, and took to
the skies. With his mind restored, Shigeru goes
mad until Kiyo finally calms him down. With the
help of Dr. Kashiwagi, Shigeru identifies the
creature as a pteranodon. The two lead an expedition
into the cave from Shigeru's memory, which is
now empty. They find a fragment of the eggshell,
which is dated to an astonishing 20 million years!
Kashiwagi meets with the JSDF to announce his
findings. It is his contention that the UFO is,
in fact, a creature known as Rodan. It has an
amazing 500-foot wingspan, and it can fly at supersonic
speeds...
The JSDF discovers Rodan’s
lair: a dormant volcano. Jets shell the mountain,
which causes Rodan to emerge and go on the offensive.
A second Rodan emerges and joins in the onslaught.
The two wing their way into Sasebo and leave the
city in ruins and flames. Afterwards, the Rodans
return to their lair to hibernate. During their
hibernation, the authorities decide the seal the
Rodans in the volcano by bombarding it with explosives.
Amidst the furious attack, one of the creatures
awakens and escapes. The bombardment causes Mount
Toya to erupt, which engulfs the second Rodan
in lava. As one dies in the molten rock, the other,
whom had earlier escaped, dives into the lava,
refusing to live on without its mate. The humans
watch their victory is silence, perhaps even touched
by the affection that is shown by the dying creatures.
The actors in the movie do a great
job with their roles. Kenji Sahara plays Shigeru,
the miner who witnesses the hatching of Rodan.
This role is his first big gig in a long career
of acting in the kaiju eiga sector, and audiences
should be thankful for this. His reaction to the
memory of the cave is terrifying and compelling.
Yumi Shirukawa plays Kiyo, Shigeru’s fiancée
and Goro’s sister. Her willingness to stay
by Shigeru’s side despite the danger of
the situation is heartwarming and mirrors the
Rodan mates in their refusal to separate, even
in death. Kiyo crying on Shigeru’s shoulder
during the Rodans’ deaths adds to the heaviness
of the scene. Akihiko Hirata plays Dr. Kashiwagi,
who is (you guessed it) a scientist. This time
he is a scientist that wishes to study the Meganulon
(his attitude being a subtle reference to Godzilla
[1954]), and who also reveals the identity of
the monster that Shigeru witnessed. However, there
is a flub in the timeline his character presents.
When the egg is dated, it is revealed that it
the anomaly is 20 million years old, which he
says is from the Cretaceous age. The Cretaceous
age was, in fact, 65 million years ago, not 20
million. However, this also calls back to Godzilla
(1954) in a way, when Dr. Yamane mistakenly claimed
the Jurassic age was 2 million years ago as opposed
to 145 million.
Harkening back to Godzilla
(1954) in other ways, human suffering is shown
in Rodan, but it is nothing compared
to that witnessed in the aforementioned film.
After the mutilated bodies from the mine are revealed,
the viewer knows this is not going to be a lighthearted
flick, but instead a serious horror movie. The
bloodied helmet of the jet pilot, following the
attacked by the "UFO", also has a very
disturbing feel to it. Finally the newlywed couple
being devoured by Rodan adds to the seriousness
of the film, and in retrospect, is one of the
few times that humans are eaten by monsters in
kaiju films. This will be one of the last kaiju
movies to show this kind of human tragedy for
a long time.
Special effects wise, Eiji
Tsuburaya does it again. The monsters are
believable. The wind effects from the Rodans’
attack on Sasebo are very convincing, almost making
the viewer think that it’s really happening.
The matte shots of the humans and the Rodans are
almost seamless, as well. It was as if the creatures
were really there with the actors. On a level
of cinematography, the use of shadows in the mine
add terror to those already tense scenes.
Of course, what’s a kaiju
movie without the kaiju? The best way to start
is with the title monster Rodan, played by the
legend suit actor himself: Haruo Nakajima. Rodan
is very terrifying in this film. The design and
the red color are downright menacing. The hatchling
Rodan is, ironically, both cute and horrifying
a the same time. The flying effects are realistic,
unlike later kaiju films that are haunted by unrealistic
illusions. When Rodan is trying to get airborne,
it actually flaps its wings until it has a steady
speed going, easing into a glide. The visual of
the speedy supersonic flight is also fantastic.
Some viewers may not catch this, but Rodan has
a breath weapon in this movie: the ability to
blow a concentrated blast of air. It is only seen
once, when it is used to damage the building that
houses the military leaders. The deaths of the
two Rodans in the end are touching and sad, yet
another nod to Godzilla
(1954). Unfortunately, Rodan’s first movie
is also a last for many things for a long while.
When the monster makes the transition to the Godzilla
series, it loses its red color and ferocious look.
This does not return until Godzilla
vs. Mechagodzilla II (1993). The depiction
of supersonic flight is never done justice until
almost 50 years later in Godzilla:
Final Wars (2004). The other monster
to talk about in this film is the Meganulon. The
insect looks scary and the noise it makes just
adds to the effect. However, this monster creates
the most visual special effects flubs in the movie.
One example occurs during the scene where the
police open fire on the creature. When the monster
tosses the bodies of the policemen down the side
of the hill, both the monster and the bodies look
like dolls. Luckily this scene goes by quick enough
not to distract from the viewing experience.
When you’re talking about
music in a kaiju movie, and you’re talking
about Maestro
Ifukube; there is only one word to describe
his work: wonderful. All his themes are great.
A slightly different version of Rodan’s
theme comes to play when the Rodans show up in
the movie. The theme in the end of the movie adds
to the sadness of the Rodans’ death scene.
Other places that stand out are places that don’t
have any music at all, but silence instead. This
adds to the tension of an already terrifying scene.
Of course, this movie is
more monster-on-the-loose than the message-filled
Godzilla
(1954). While atomic bombs are mentioned in the
film, it’s not as intense a theme as it
plays out to be in Godzilla
(1954). While atomic testing is responsible for
the awakening of both Godzilla and Rodan, it doesn’t
mutate Rodan; it just serves as a catalyst to
awaken the monster. A message could be derived
out the fact that Rodan was found near a mine,
which could pan out to be a warning against the
continual exhaustion of our natural resources.
As we search for others, we could be dealing with
something with which humans really don’t
wish to deal.
As I am reviewing the dubbed version,
I will point out some of the major differences
in the versions (although I have not had the opportunity
yet to view the Japanese version). Overall, with
some changes, the movie is faithful to the original.
First of all, the dubbing, like in all early movies,
is tolerable. The lip sync is decent and the voices
don’t sound too cartoony. The narration
done by Shigeru in the beginning and the end is
wonderful in setting the mood for the movie and
the scenes. However, the narration during the
search for the cave where Rodan hatched does sort
of distract from the tension of the scene. Also
the name of the insect, Meganulon, is never mentioned
in the dub. Another difference in this version
is the opening. The movie opens with shot of atomic
testing and a narration of what the testings are
doing to "Mother Earth". The scene mentions
that nuclear tests are awakening monsters, but
it really is unnecessary. The final change is
the city that gets destroyed. In this version,
it’s Sasebo; while in the original, it’s
Fukuoka. The reason this was done was because
Sasebo was more recognizable to Americans at the
time of the release, and perhaps due to the fact
that a certain undesirable word might accidentally
make its way into the track if the dubbing wasn't
done properly.
Overall, Rodan is a very
good, very scary movie. The year 2006 marks the
50th anniversary of the movie and the monster.
Rodan is one of the few fortunate kaiju
that is even recognized outside the fandom. I
would highly recommend seeing this film, and if
you can, try for the Japanese version. If you
can’t, this version will definitely do.
And with the recent release of the movie on DVD
from Classic Media and the occasional showing
on AMC, this is a movie that is not to be missed
by fans of kaiju eiga or for fans of the star
monster for that matter.
|
(4/5)